Three 12-year-olds charged with planning to stab classmate

An indictment was filed against three 12-year-old girls from central Israel who were charged with scheming to stab a classmate. According to the prosecution, the girls had allegedly learned tips on how to hide their fingerprints from an Israeli youth TV show called "Galis", broadcasted on "Arutz Hayeladim" (the Children's Channel).

The girls' plot was discovered when the intended victim passed by the bathroom and overheard the three conspiring against her. Another girl involved in the scheme will not be prosecuted due to her young age. The defendants are accused of offenses relating to conspiracy to commit crime, theft and possession of a knife.

The indictment reveals that the suspects, sixth grade students, decided to settle the score with the victim after they suspected that she had cursed at one of their sisters. In early April, a dispute had sparked between the gang of girls and the victim, followed by threats of violence. Two of the girls had then planned to stab the girl with two kitchen knives they had obtained from the teachers' lounge and hidden in their pockets.

According to the indictment, the girls used tips they had learned from the show "Galis" about how to wipe off fingerprints left on knives, and had even searched for the school janitor from whom they could obtain disposable cleaning gloves, but did not find him. It was further claimed that they had planned to wear old shoes that they no longer used so that their footprints would not be detected.

As part of their plan, the girls were supposed to tell the victim to meet them at a field and show up armed with knives. At a certain point, the third defendant was supposed to use a code word, which would serve as the signal to stab the victim in her stomach. The gang had planned to later flee the scene and leave the victim bleeding in the field.

Fortunately, their plan was thwarted when the victim passed by a bathroom in the school and overheard the girls' plans. She then notified the school administration, and thus managed to prevent the stabbing incident.

The Children's Channel that broadcasts the TV show "Galis", from which the girls were said to be influenced, said in response: "The TV show 'Galis' does not in any way encourage violent behavior. The only thing that could have been learned from the show was that fingerprints can be used to incriminate suspects, as can be learned from many other TV programs.

"The Children's Channel condemns all forms of violent behavior and expresses regret that a violent minority chose to wrongly interpret the show's content. The 'Galis' series is a high-quality daily drama for children and teens and its contents are meticulously tailored to suit the target audience, with responsibility towards the viewers, and of course does not encourage violence," the statement read.